Ehsaas Disburses Rs. 16.588 Billion to 1.382 Million People in 60 Hours
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PM apolitically decides to increase the share of Sindh in Ehsaas Emergency Cash from 22.45% to 31% June 17, 2020- Karachi: Participating in a televised media talk led by the Prime Minister Imran Khan during the visit to Karachi, SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar said that the major chunk of Rs 60 billion earmarked for Sindh under the Ehsaas Emergency Cash programme is being distributed among the 50 million needy families across the province. Adding further she said, “In Categories II & III of Ehsaas Emergency Cash, provincial quotas are population based. However, in Categories IV & V that is funded by PM’s COVID relief fund, all eligible applicants are being supported on PM’s directions. Therefore, deserving individuals in Sindh will gain the most from this apolitical decision as the share of the province has now been increased from 22.45% to 31%.” Further, Dr. Sania Nishtar who leads Ehsaas programme shared the final breakdown of federally-funded Ehsaas Emergency Cash beneficiaries by federating units. She said that the overall number of individuals to be supported under the Ehsaas Emergency Cash programme has now been increased from 12 million to 16.16 million. The media talk can be watched here. Ehsaas Saylani Langar opens in Swat amidst COVID-19 pandemic June 17, 2020 – Swat: Under the public private partnership, fourth Ehsaas Saylani Langar has been opened in Swat. Currently, the newly opened Langar in Swat serves packed food two times daily to around 1,500 people amid COVID-19 emergency. People are pleased with the food quality and degree of respect with which they are being served. Dr. Sania Nishtar, PM’s Special Assistant on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation said, “This is the first Ehsaas Saylani Langar inaugurated in KP. Ehsaas strongly realizes that Corona crisis has aggravated poverty that has adversely impacted laborers and daily wagers the most. Principally, this food aid facility will help ease the food burden of urban poor across Swat district.” PM visits Ehsaas Emergency Cash disbursement centre at Lahore June 13, 2020 – Lahore: Prime Minister Imran Khan visited the Ehsaas Emergency Cash disbursement centre in Lahore and inspected the transfer of cash to the deserving people. PM also interacted with emergency cash beneficiaries and enquired about their livelihood conditions particularly in the aftermath of the COVID-19 outbreak. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Sania Nishtar briefed the PM that around 1.3 million people would be provided emergency cash assistance under PM’s COVID Fund. Chief Minister Punjab, Usman Buzdar was also present at the occasion. Footage can be watchedhere . Ehsaas Emergency Cash beneficiaries cross the 10m mark in nine weeks June 11, 2020 – Islamabad: The Ehsaas Emergency Cash program has served more than 10 million beneficiaries since nine weeks of its commencement. The program was launched on April 9, 2020, to extend immediate cash assistance of Rs. 12,000 each to Covid-19 lockdown affected families. While talking about the ongoing process of Ehsaas Emergency Cash disbursements, Dr. Sania Nishtar, Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation said, “By the grace of Almighty Allah, we have been able to achieve 10 million mark in cash distribution. With the help of district administrations of provinces, law enforcement agencies, NADRA and partner banks, we will meet our target to serve 12 million by the end of this month.” As per provincial and regional breakdown available on the online Ehsaas disbursements portal, till today, an amount of Rs. 52.70 billion among 43.42 million beneficiaries in Punjab, Rs.36.63 billion among 30.34 million beneficiaries in Sindh and Rs.22.69 billion has been distributed among 18.45 million beneficiaries of KP. Further, an amount of Rs.2.12 billion has been disbursed among more than 0.172 million beneficiaries in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Rs. 6.5 billion among 0.497 million beneficiaries of Baluchistan, Rs. 0.88 billion among more than 70,000 beneficiaries in Gilgit-Baltistan and Rs.0.56 billion among more than 46,000 beneficiaries of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). Heartfile publishes Special Supplement on Trans- Fatty Acid (TFA) in Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association (JPMA) June 2020: Heartfile published a special supplement in the Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association (JPMA) in its May 2020 issue titled Trans-Fatty Acid (TFA) elimination in Pakistan: A Situational Analysis. The supplement provides an overview of TFA sources in Pakistan, introduces the country’s regulatory framework governing food, and suggests steps to eliminate industrially-produced TFA from the Pakistani diet. The development of the report which was launched in July 2019 at a national event and its publishing in the premier medical journal is part of ongoing efforts to highlight the TFA issue and garner support towards the implementation of measures to eliminate it from the Pakistani diet. The special supplement can be accessed here Ehsaas comes up with supplementary payment solution to serve beneficiaries with biometric issues June 4, 2020 – Islamabad: Ehsaas has introduced a supplementary payment solution to facilitate beneficiaries of Ehsaas Emergency Cash who are eligible but were facing problems in withdrawing money owing to defying biometric identification. The supplementary solution has done away with the biometric verification of fingerprints from NADARA offices. Now, beneficiaries with this issue will be paid exclusively in the designated bank branches of partner banks without biometric verification. Two banks are partnering with Ehsaas for emergency cash transfers- Habib Bank Limited is serving in Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan and Bank Alfalah across KP, GB and AJK. Dr. Sania Nishtar, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation took to the twitter (@SaniaNishtar) and released an instructional video on the newly introduced Ehsaas solution to biometric issues. The video can be watched here. Ehsaas commences emergency cash transfer to tribal daily wage earners across Waziristan June 3, 2020 – Islamabad: Pakistan’s COVID-19 safety net response, Ehsaas Emergency Cash, has disbursed more than 117.49 billion Pakistani Rupees among 96.63 million vulnerable families across Pakistan. Recently, Ehsaas has commenced distribution of emergency cash to daily wage earners, pie rate workers, labourers, and small shopkeepers across North and South Waziristan areas of KP as well. These beneficiaries had applied for the cash assistance through 8171 SMS service. Dr. Sania Nishtar, PM’s Special Assistant on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation said, “Through 8171, total 61,164 SMS were received from North Waziristan and 62,499 from South Waziristan. Now, biometrically verified payments have begun to beneficiaries in Waziristan after ascertainment of their eligibility through NADRA’s data analytics using unique national identification numbers and drawing on the wealth proxies such as travel history, taxes, billing, assets ownership data and government employment status.” Dr. Sania presents real-time lessons of Pakistan’s COVID-19 safety net response in her keynote address at ADB’s webinar June 2, 2020, The Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) organized a webinar themed, “Casting Wider Safety Nets to Reach Asia’s Most Vulnerable: Real-time Policy Recommendations during the Covid-19 Pandemic” in cooperation with the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Dr. Sania Nishtar, Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation joined the webinar as a keynote speaker. Presenting real-time lessons of Ehsaas Emergency Cash program that is government of Pakistan’s safety net response amid COVID-19 shutdown, Dr. Nishtar said, “In two months, the program has distributed more than Rs.115 billion in cash to 9.5 million families, representing the most extensive social protection intervention in the history of the country. The program’s success is driven by its comprehensive approach to implementation based on leveraging existing Ehsaas systems and strengthening social safety nets, which helped to ensure that vulnerable households were provided with immediate cash support.” The webinar was joined by government officials from various countries who were directly engaged in the design and implementation of Covid-19 fiscal safety net responses as well as development practitioners, researchers, and innovators to share their ideas about reaching the most vulnerable. International donors widely applaud Pakistan’s Ehsaas Emergency Cash transfer program amid COVID-19 pandemic June 1, 2020, Ehsaas hosted a virtual meeting with international donors, UN Agencies & other stakeholders to apprise them with regard to Ehsaas Emergency Cash distribution- update & potential way forward. The meeting discussed the program in terms of its, scale, speed of deployment and results along with transparency measures safeguarded by the government to reach out to the daily wage earners and labourers. The meeting was joined by Patchamuthu Illangovan, Country Director World Bank, Xiaohong Yang, Country Director Asian Development Bank, Julien Harneis, UN Resident Coordinator, Annabel Gerry, Country Director DFID, Board members and other stakeholders. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Sania Nishtar chaired the meeting. Briefing donors, Dr. Nishtar stated, “Within Pakistan, the Ehsaas program has taken the lead in